Savannah, Georgia - Help!

[cloudy]

So I'm actually thinking about writing a story for the Halloween Contest. Thinking about writing is more "writing" than I've done in forever *sigh* but I figured I'd get on it while the getting's good, sort of.

I have some questions about Savannah - I'm planning on setting the story there, since my favorite old south setting (New Orleans) is sort of out of commission for awhile. I've been there once, and it was in college during spring break. I don't need to tell you how much I remember about the city.

1) I want my protag (female) to live in the historic district, and be relatively wealthy. Is that feasible? And, what area would she most likely live in?

2) What do the wealthy in Savannah do? I mean, are they old money? Are they new money? And if they're new money, what type of businesses are typical?

3) Do they do the normal social rounds as in other cities, i.e., charity balls, etc.? Golf? What else?

4) What's the land around the city like? Is it delta sort of like at the mouth of the Mississippi (swamps)?

5) What's the ethnic make-up of the city (more or less)? Are there any separations along the lines of race, or background, like the Irish in Boston, etc.?

I'll be eternally grateful for any and all help - and any background you can give me beyond what I've asked for will be MOST appreciated.

TIA

 

[SEVERUSMAX]

So I'm actually thinking about writing a story for the Halloween Contest. Thinking about writing is more "writing" than I've done in forever *sigh* but I figured I'd get on it while the getting's good, sort of.

I have some questions about Savannah - I'm planning on setting the story there, since my favorite old south setting (New Orleans) is sort of out of commission for awhile. I've been there once, and it was in college during spring break. I don't need to tell you how much I remember about the city.

1) I want my protag (female) to live in the historic district, and be relatively wealthy. Is that feasible? And, what area would she most likely live in?

2) What do the wealthy in Savannah do? I mean, are they old money? Are they new money? And if they're new money, what type of businesses are typical?

3) Do they do the normal social rounds as in other cities, i.e., charity balls, etc.? Golf? What else?

4) What's the land around the city like? Is it delta sort of like at the mouth of the Mississippi (swamps)?

5) What's the ethnic make-up of the city (more or less)? Are there any separations along the lines of race, or background, like the Irish in Boston, etc.?

I'll be eternally grateful for any and all help - and any background you can give me beyond what I've asked for will be MOST appreciated.

TIA

Okay, what era are you speaking of?

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

Cloudy,
Rent Midnight In The Garden of Good and Evil. You'll have most of your questions answered visually.

 

[R. Richard]

4) What's the land around the city like? Is it delta sort of like at the mouth of the Mississippi (swamps)?

I'll be eternally grateful for any and all help - and any background you can give me beyond what I've asked for will be MOST appreciated.

TIA

Cloudy:
Savannah is located in the "low country." [I lived, or whatever, in the Charlestown, SC area.] The land in the low country is FLAT, FLAT, FLAT! If you pop off your collar button, that is probably the high point for the area. The land is cut by streams and rivers that run down from the mountains to the West. Like all of the low country, Savannah does not have any land whatsoever that is described using the "s word." The land is MARSHY, of course. [Using the s word can negatively impact your social standing.]

The land around Savannah is often covered with tall yellow grass, which is probably why they gave the town the Name Savannah.

There are a very large number of fine old home in and around Savannah, in fact so many that there are several "fine homes' districts. [Don't ask me what they look like inside. They may have to put up with white trash, but they don't invite them inside their homes.]

While I was in Savannah, I made a careful search for a woman with a large pan of water, standing alongside a river, but came up empty.

Oh yes, there are a number of operations out in the back country where they throw two chickens into a pit and the chickens try to kill each other. [I have no idea why.] Along with the chicken fights, they used to have high stakes dice games. Some northerner started cleaning up the dice games and there were entirely unfounded allegations of cheating. [When you know how to roll 'em scientific, there is no need to cheat. It's all in the wrist.] There was also violence and the police finally began to shut down the chicken fights and dice games.

 

[cloudy]

Okay, what era are you speaking of?

Present day.

Cloudy,
Rent Midnight In The Garden of Good and Evil. You'll have most of your questions answered visually.

I own the hardback of the book, and I've seen the movie several times. While it's good for general impressions, I still feel that I need to know more, since it's not a city I'm familiar with, like New Orleans.

Cloudy:
Savannah is located in the "low country." [I lived, or whatever, in the Charlestown, SC area.] The land in the low country is FLAT, FLAT, FLAT! If you pop off your collar button, that is probably the high point for the area. The land is cut by streams and rivers that run down from the mountains to the West. Like all of the low country, Savannah does not have any land whatsoever that is described using the "s word." The land is MARSHY, of course. [Using the s word can negatively impact your social standing.]

The land around Savannah is often covered with tall yellow grass, which is probably why they gave the town the Name Savannah.

There are a very large number of fine old home in and around Savannah, in fact so many that there are several "fine homes' districts. [Don't ask me what they look like inside. They may have to put up with white trash, but they don't invite them inside their homes.]

While I was in Savannah, I made a careful search for a woman with a large pan of water, standing alongside a river, but came up empty.

Oh yes, there are a number of operations out in the back country where they throw two chickens into a pit and the chickens try to kill each other. [I have no idea why.] Along with the chicken fights, they used to have high stakes dice games. Some northerner started cleaning up the dice games and there were entirely unfounded allegations of cheating. [When you know how to roll 'em scientific, there is no need to cheat. It's all in the wrist.] There was also violence and the police finally began to shut down the chicken fights and dice games.

I'm familiar with the Carolinas...I figured it was very similar. Am I right?

I know all about the seedier side of life in the south. In fact, I know more than I really want to know. *sigh* They still raise fighting chickens around here, believe it or not. My protag is very wealthy (I'm thinking old money right now), so that part of southern "atmosphere" I won't be using, but thank you.

 

[shereads]

So I'm actually thinking about writing a story for the Halloween Contest. Thinking about writing is more "writing" than I've done in forever *sigh* but I figured I'd get on it while the getting's good, sort of.

I have some questions about Savannah - I'm planning on setting the story there, since my favorite old south setting (New Orleans) is sort of out of commission for awhile. I've been there once, and it was in college during spring break. I don't need to tell you how much I remember about the city.

1) I want my protag (female) to live in the historic district, and be relatively wealthy. Is that feasible? And, what area would she most likely live in?

Hooray. I love Savannah. It's romantic. Haunted, too. Lots of ghost stories.

Yes, she can be wealthy and live in the historic district; she'd need to be, unless her house is one that hasn't been restored yet and is falling down around her ears. She comes from old money, I imagine.

She'd live on a 'square.' (Old-town Savannah was laid out in a grid pattern, with mansions set on the four sides of the square, facing a small park at the center. Here's a link to residential squares in old Savannah:

http://www.promotega.org/asu00003/squares.html

2) What do the wealthy in Savannah do? I mean, are they old money? [/quote] Oh my, yes. That doesn't mean they can't be 'in trade,' like the antiques dealer whose murder trials inspired John Berendt's book, "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil."

Professions you might consider for your well-off Savannah native: antiques or art dealer, like the gentleman/murderer in "Midnight"; architect specializing in historic preservation & restoration; restaurateur. Lots of excellent restaurants in Savannah; celebrity chefs from all over, with local investors/owners.

Along with charity balls, your rich heroine's family might participate in the spring and fall Savannah Tour of Homes, a fundraising event that offers tours of private homes and gardens and donates the profit from ticket sales to local charities.

4) What's the land around the city like? Is it delta sort of like at the mouth of the Mississippi (swamps)?
[/quote]In South Carolina, we called that part of coastal SC & Georgia the Low Country. Savannah is on the Savannah River; the red-brick cotton warehouses facing River Street are now restaurants, bars and touristy t-shirt shops.

Between the city and the Atlantic Ocean are miles of tidal marshes dotted with islands of higher ground that are forested with live oaks ('live oak' is a species of oak) and palmetto trees; then the barrier islands ('the sea islands') where the beaches are located.

Driving from Savannah toward the beaches, you'd pass a lot of small family farms selling tomatoes, etc. at roadside stands. There are pockets of Gullah culture - freed and escaped slaves who settled among the tidal marshes and barrier islands and maintained elements of African culture. They speak Gullah dialect; make and sell elaborate baskets out of seagrass.

My favorite place in the Low Country isn't in Georgia, but in SC and maybe 90 minutes from Savannah. Old Sheldon Church, the brick shell of a church burned by General Sherman, is in a clearing surrounded by live-oak forest. There are tombs around the church from the 1800s. I happend upon it by accident, while exploring side-roads that looked interesting, and had an afternoon to myself just wandering around this beautiful ruin. Such a haunting place - there are tombs from the 1600s in the small cemetary beside the church. I was amazed to find a place like this without guards or a locked gate, and no graffiti or picnic trash. It would make a great setting for a story. Pix:

http://www.graveaddiction.com/dougsheld.html

5) What's the ethnic make-up of the city (more or less)? Are there any separations along the lines of race, or background, like the Irish in Boston, etc.?

Lots of Irish roots in Savannah. The St. Patricks Day parade is a huge event, as important in its way as Mardis Gras in Savannah. Lots of green beer, eventually followed by green faces.

White and African-American are the most visible ethnic groups. The line between black and white is still evident; there's a lot of poverty and the crime that comes from poverty; it spills over into the wealthier areas of downtown from derelect neighborhoods where the homes are as historic, but the money to restore them isn't there.

The College of Art and Design has brought a lot of life and freshness to the city, especially since it's not confined to a campus, but has classes all over town. Art students work part time as tour guides. Art galleries and antique shops are the most upscale downtown businesses.

There's a bar called The Velvet Elvis.

I haven't been inside, but I do adore the name.

Favorite local restaurant: "The Lady and Sons." Chef-owner Paula Dean has a program now on the Food Network.

Ghost Tours, by foot, are popular at night. Creepy, too. Can you believe a haunted room at a b&b costs more than a non-haunted one? Thanks, but you can keep the room where the rocking chair rocks by itself because the lady of the house nursed her dying children in that bedroom during a cholera outbreak.

At one of the downtown cemeteries, our guide told us that during an outbreak of yellow fever in the early 1800s, there was such urgency to bury the dead to prevent the spread of the disease, that people became afraid of being buried alive. Families who could afford it had their loved ones buried with a bell-pull tied to one hand; if you woke up buried, you could pull the cord and a bell would ring above-ground. Unfortunately, nobody wanted to dig up the graves of yellow fever victims, so...

Ding.

Ding.

I don't know if anyone really did ring those bells, but I know I'd love to hide just inside the gate at the entrance to the cemetary where the tour guides tell that story, and ring a bicycle bell at just the right moment.

Ya'll have fun, now.

 

[cloudy]

Exactly what I needed, Sher. Thank you.

 

[shereads]

Exactly what I needed, Sher. Thank you.

You're welcome, Cloudy. A nice excuse to think about one of my favorite places. I owe mom a visit; thanks for the reminder.

I should have mentioned that there's a large military presence in Savannah: Hunter Army Airfield.

Also: a wealthy family might have a beach house nearby (Tybee Island is the closest beach town) and will probably head north in the summer.

Savannah is miserably hot in the summer, especially if you are visiting my mom at her retirement home. She's in her 80s and keeps the air conditioner set higher than her age.

 

[cloudy]

bumping for the day crew.